The Aftermath, DCU-Chivas USA

There are two reasons for this: First, the match started very late on the East Coast and deadline was tight. The second, and bigger explanation, was the fact that the D.C. United locker room was closed for about a half-hour. (The normal time is around 15 minutes.)

What was going on in there?

Soul-searching, perhaps.

Managing partner Will Chang exited with a grim look on his face. Team president Kevin Payne declined comment. Coach Tom Soehn, who usually steps out of the locker room promptly to give his postgame address, was nowhere to be seen. Players started trickling out of the locker room and headed toward the bus.

Finally, Soehn appeared.

"We came out second half and we weren't good enough with the ball. So that was disappointing. We gave away the ball too much and, in the end, we gave them a lot of confidence to now put pressure on us. The first half, we had a game plan and we stuck to it. We were hard to play against, we got our goal, and second half they came out with a bit more intensity and I don't think we handled it well enough."

"It's very emotionally draining. We put a lot of work into making sure we were doing the things we talked about all week -- being harder to play against. We threw caution to the wind after they scored and started taking chances and taking risks, and they punished us."

"We are going to go back and hopefully we'll get a couple guys back but everybody still has got to dig deeper. Games aren't won over 60 minutes, it's 90 minutes, and I thought we had about 60 minutes in us, and that's not good enough in this league, in any league."

For more, skip below.....

On the defensive letdown.....

"We started taking chances instead of being disciplined. We got isolated one on one and tried to win balls instead of standing people up and waiting for help. We took too many risks."

The psychological impact of the losing streak.....

"Winning and losing is a habit, and you get in the habits of losing and you almost expect it to come. We have to change that."

On Zach Wells.....

"Tonight he needed to come up with a couple saves, especially in games on the road that are going to be tight. I want to look at the tape again, but from my memory, he has to come up with a couple key saves for us."

Assess your job security.....

"Everybody is held accountable -- players, coaches, everybody."

The team's confidence against a struggling team.....

"We are both going through difficult times with injuries. We just didn't do a good enough job over 90 minutes. You have to put a 90-minute performance together and we didn't do that tonight."

Personnel changes.....

"We are going to evaluate everything. Right now, it's not good enough. If it means changes, we have to make changes, but we have to rededicate ourselves."

MARC BURCH

"We just had a couple breakdowns. It's a tough loss. We needed that one and we didn't get it done. We were winning, but we have to keep a lead."

"It's a tough loss, it really is. It's frustrating, it's tough. It hurts to know we could have won that game, to be in control of it and lose it."

JAIME MORENO

"It's another disappointment. It's sad we worked so hard for 65 minutes and then we give everything away. It's only us. We've got to fix it."

Is team morale dropping?

"Not really. It's just we are making mistakes. It's very simple. We have to eliminate the mistakes. The game changed 90 degrees and really we gave the game away. We have to play for 90 minutes. We have to turn the page."

CLYDE SIMMS

"They got the goal and, it's not like we are getting used to losing, but it was kind of looking that way. We have to stay up and keep that mentality because up to that point, we controlled the game. We should be able to still come away with a point. We've just got to get it together. It's been the same the last couple games. We had a good performance up until they scored the goal and we have to keep it going for 90 minutes."